NAWALPUR, JULY 8

The expansion of the Narayangadh-Butwal road section has been halted due to incessant rain.

According to project chief of the eastern section of Narayangadh-Butwal Road Expansion Project Ashish Thapa Magar, efforts are being made for smooth transport operation rather than widening the road.

'We have now focused on making the road traffic easier as the road expansion work could not be carried out', he said, adding, 'The construction company has put its human resource and equipment to ease the traffic in the areas where the road is blocked'.

He said that the contractor has been assigned to repair potholes on the road, place pebbles in the area where the road is slippery due to rain and remove the landslide debris. 'The contractor company had been reducing its resources a week ago since the onset of monsoon this year', he said, adding, 'The work has been halted as the road expansion work could not be carried out due to rain'.

According to project chief Magar, only 52 percent of the physical progress of the road expansion project – that began since January 2019 after signing an agreement has been made so far. Of the 114 kilometers of Narayangadh-Butwal road, 65-km is in the eastern section.

China State Engineering Corporation Limited, a contractor, has not been able to advance the road expansion work on time. After the expiry of the deadline on coming July 23, the company has applied for project extension for one more year.

'The company has applied for an extension citing various reasons', he said, adding, 'The company has applied for an extension citing old reasons, including the COVID -19 pandemic that spread at the time of commencement of the work, late approval for cutting down the trees, delay in shifting the electric pole'. Project chief Magar said that they are in discussion on how many days it would be appropriate to extend the deadline on the basis of the request by the company. 'The consultant and we work together on the extension of deadline', he said, adding, 'We will forward our recommendation to the ministry for timeline expansion'.

Though the timeline extension approval will come before July 23, it cannot be predicted how many days will be extended for the project, he noted.